Method of indexing a book

ABSTRACT

A new way of citing pages in an alphabetically indexed printed reference material such as dictionaries and thesauruses. It implement a structured method for locating items in those materials and reduces the number of tasks and the frustration involved. This new way involve dividing the reference material into sections. Each section is divided into sub-sections (group of pages). Each page will have two header items (words) indexing range of the items (words) located in the page. The pages in the sub-section is sited so that the header items of each page is just above the header items of the previous page. Locating a word in done through two or three steps. First locating the section, then locating the sub-section (whenever applicable), and finally locating the page. This is done by browsing the header items (words) on each page.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention is applicable to the field of alphabetically indexedprinted references. The obvious example of those references and forwhich this invention will be most applicable are dictionaries andthesauruses. The invention changes the standard method of arranging thepages of those reference materials in such a way that accessing the pagewhich contains the items (words, articles, etc.), such as locating acertain word in a dictionary, will be less frustrating and requires lesssteps.

BACKGROUND ART

The current method commonly used to layout alphabetically indexedprinted references such as dictionaries and thesauruses requires certainsteps for a user to look-up an item of interest. This method can becomefrustrating and time consuming. The invention attacks this problem andsimplifies the way the item will be located. This is done by changingthe method the pages are sited in those printed references.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the book and method according to the presentinvention.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The invention introduces a new method of looking up words (item) in anindexed reference material. It does that by eliminating the time andefforts needed to locate the page of the reference material the word(item) is located at. This method modifies the way the referencematerial pages are placed. The pages are sited in such a way that byusing the header words (indexes) of each page of the reference materiala user can locate the page of the word he is looking-up with lessefforts.

The invention does not implement a new method in the layout of the pageor the layout of the words in the page itself. It requires a standardmethod of page layout that many reference materials are already using.This method (invention) requires that each page of the referencematerial has two header words (indexes). One of the words is located atthe left topmost portion of the page and the other word is located atthe right topmost portion of the page. The word on the left will indexthe first word that page includes and the word on the right indexes thelast word that page includes. The only requirement this inventionrequires is that the two index words of the page should be placed(printed) on the topmost portion of the page. The top margin of the pageshould be as small as possible.

The invention is to divide the reference material into sections witheach section divided into a number of sub-sections (group of pages).Starting from the second page of the first section or subsection page,all pages in the sub-section should be sited just above the precedingpage so that the header words (indexes) of each page will appear justabove the header words (indexes) of the preceding page and can be usedto locate the words in the page.

All the user has to do is flip to the section the word (item) is locatedwithin by browsing the header words (indexes) of the pages and thenflipping to the page that contains the word he is searching for.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

This mode requires that pages of the reference material, for example adictionary 8, be grouped into limited number of sections, preferablyfour or five sections; depending on the number of the total pages. Eachsection 10 (group of pages) will be divided into sub-sections 12.

The first page 14 of the sub-section 12 is considered a header page. Therest of the pages of the sub-section should be sited according to thefollowing: each page starting from the third page of this subsectionwill be sited in a way that the header words 16 (indexes) of a certainpage will appear just above the header words of the previous page.

All sub-section pages except the first or header page, should beattached and sited behind the header page 14 of the sub-section 12 in away that the top of the header page will be higher than any subsequentpage of that sub-section.

The header page 14 of a sub-section will serve as an index to thesubsection 12. Now each sub-section page IS will be attached togetherand sited so that the top of the sub-section header page will show ajust above the header page of the preceding sub-section in away that theheader words 16 (indexes) of each subsection header page appear justabove the header words 16 (indexes) of the previous sub-section headerpage. All this is done for all the sub-sections of all sections of thereference material.

What a user will do to locate a word (an item) in the reference materialis as follows. First, locate the section the word is at and flip (turn)to that section. Second, the user needs to locate which subsectionwithin which the word is located. All he has to do is to scan the headerpage of each sub-section, using the header words (indexes). Third, is tolocate the page of the sub-section that contain the word he islooking-up. So, once he locates the sub-section he should flip to thatsub-section by turning its header page to the left. Then he can browse(scan) the header words (indexes) on the pages with that sub-section.The final step is to flip to the page that contains the word he wants.

OTHER MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

This mode will work well for medium size or pocket indexed referencematerial (such as pocket dictionaries). The reference material will begrouped into four or five sections (group of pages). No sub-sectionswill be needed (see FIG. 2).

At each section 10, starting from the second page each page 18 will beplaced a just above the preceding page so that the header words 16(indexes) in any page will appear the header words of the previous page.

This method will increase the height of the reference material by almostdouble. All the user have to do to locate a word is at, then by browsingthe header words 16 (indexes) on each page 18 of the section 10 he canlocate the page the word is located at.

I claim:
 1. A reference book arranged for rapid location of itemstherein, the items laid out in alphabetical or hierarchical fashion onthe pages of the book, comprising:section header means located on atleast two pages of said book, said section header means dividing thebook into sections of a number of pages within a section, the pageswithin each section arranged such that the top of each page within asection is located slightly above the preceding page when the pages ofthe section are closed together; and page header means located on thetop of each page in each section, said page header means identifyingitems from a first listing to a last listing for the page located on thepage on which the header means are located, said page header meansviewable when the pages for the section are closed together.
 2. The bookof claim 1, wherein the pages within said sections are divided intosubsections, the first page of each subsection located above andcovering the pages of the subsection, the first page of each sectionincluding sub-section header means, each sub-section header page of eachsection located above the preview subsection header page in thatsection.
 3. The book of claim 1, wherein the page header means comprisesitems listed at a top left portion and a top right portion of said page.4. A method for arranging items in a reference book comprising:dividingthe pages of the book into sections; providing a label identifying thecontents of each section; arranging pages within each section such thatthe top portion of succeeding pages are above a top portion of theprevious page when the pares of the section are closed together;providing a label on the top portion of each page which identifies thecontents of each page from a first to a last item listing for that page,said page top portions and labels arranged such that said labels areviewable when the pages of the section are closed together.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further including the step of arranging pages withineach section into subsections, the first page of each subsection locatedover the pages therein, with the first page of each subsection arrangedsuch that a top portion thereof is above a top portion of the precedingfirst page of a subsection.
 6. The method of claim 5, further includingthe step of providing subsection labels.
 7. A reference book arrangedfor rapid location of items therein, the items laid out in alphabeticalor hierarchical fashion on the pages of the book, comprising:headers todivide the book into item sections, each section including a pluralityof pages and each page containing an item listing from a first to a lastentry for each page; pages of each section including a margin extendingslightly above the margin of the preceding page when the pages of thesection are closed together; and each margin including indiciaidentifying the first and last entry for the page whereby for eachsection the item identifying indicia thereon are visible when thesection pages are closed together.
 8. A method for arranging itemswithin a reference book comprising:dividing the pages of the book intosections; configuring pages within each section such that the margin ofa page is above the margin of the preceding page when the pages of thesection are closed together; and providing indicia on each page marginidentifying the first and last items listed in that page, said pageconfiguration displaying the indicia of the pages when the pages of thesection are closed together.
 9. The method of claim 8 includingproviding a section preview page as the first page of the section,separating each section into subsections having a header page with amargin configured to extend above the margin of the preceding subsectionheader page, and providing said indicia for the header page at themargin thereof whereby the subsection header page indicia is viewablewith the pages of the section closed together.
 10. A reference bookarranged for rapid location of items therein, the items laid out inalphabetical or hierarchical fashion on the pages of the book,comprising:a plurality of section dividers dividing the book intosections each containing a plurality of pages having thereon adescription of items listed from a first to a last entry for each page,said dividers disposed to be displayed with the pages of the book areopen or closed together; pages within the section defining subsectionheader pages dividing the section into subsections; each subsectionheader page having a margin to extend above the margin of the precedingsubsection header page within the section when the pages of thesubsections are closed together; all pages including at their marginindicia identifying the first and last entry for the page; and themargins for the pages within the subsection extending above the marginof the preceding page such that the indicia for the pages within thesubsection are displayed one above the other with the pages of thesubsection closed together, the margins and indicia of the subsectionheader pages displayed one above the other with the pages of the sectionclosed together.